《白鲸》中的象征主义与主题意义探析.docx

1、白鲸中的象征主义与主题意义探析毕业设计(论文)课 题 名 称（英文）On the Symbolism and Thematic Significance in Moby Dick （中文）白鲸中的象征主义与主题意义探析 学 生 姓 名 学 号 系、年级专业 指 导 教 师 职 称 On the Symbolism and Thematic Significance of Moby DickAbstract Herman Melville is not only one of the most outstanding novelists that can stand for the later

2、period of American romanticism, but also an influential figure in the world of letters. Moby Dick, which was published in 1815, is his masterpiece. Although the novel gained contemporary peoples more criticism than appreciation, it has now been considered as one of best American novels and a classic

3、al work in world literature. This paper makes an analysis of the relationships between man and man, man and nature in Moby Dick with the theory of symbolism to reveal its profound thematic significance. This paper is composed of three parts. The part of introduction gives a general survey of Herman

4、Melville and his masterpiece Moby Dick as well as literary views about the novel at home and abroad, the basic framework of the article and the guiding significance of this theory to this paper. The main body includes three parts. The first part mainly introduces the American social background when

5、Moby Dick was published and the definition and development of symbolism theory. The second part analyses the symbolic meaning of the relationships between man and man, man and nature. The third part excavates the theme of the authors criticism to the oppression in the society and the mans crazy plun

6、der to nature according to theory of symbolism. The last part is the conclusion. It points out symbolism plays an important role in revealing the thematic significance of Moby Dick. Key Word: Herman Melville; Moby Dick; symbolism; thematic meaning 白鲸中的象征主义和主题意义探析摘 要赫尔曼麦尔维尔不仅是美国后期浪漫主义的杰出代表，同时也是世界文坛颇具

7、影响的人物。出版于1851年的白鲸是麦尔维尔的代表作。尽管同时代的人对它褒少贬多，但该书今天已被列为美国最佳小说之一，也被公认为世界文学宝库的经典之作。本文运用象征主义理论探析白鲸中人与人、人与自然的关系以揭示其深刻的主题意义。全文分为引言、正文和结论三部分：引言简要介绍作者的生平、白鲸一书的内容梗概和白鲸的国内外研究现状以及本文的主要内容和基本框架。正文包括三部分：第一部分主要介绍白鲸出版时的社会背景和象征主义理论的定义和发展以及该理论对本文的指导意义。第二部分运用象征主义理论分析作品中人与人、人与自然的关系的象征意义。第三部分根据象征主义理论并结合小说文本揭示作者对社会中存在的压迫以及人类

8、对大自然疯狂掠夺的批判的主题。结论部分总结白鲸中象征主义在揭示主题意义中的重要作用。关键词：赫尔曼麦尔维尔；白鲸；象征主义；主题意义；Contents Abstract.中文摘要.Introduction.11. Brief Introduction of Times Background and Symbolism Theory.31.1Times Background of the Novel.31.2 The Definition and Development of Symbolism Theory. .42. The Symbolic Meanings of Relationship

9、s between Man and Man, Man and Nature in Moby Dick.62.1 The Symbolic Meaning of Relationship between Man and Man.62.2 The Symbolic Sense of Relationship between Man and Nature.83. The Thematic Significance of Moby Dick.93.1 The Criticism of Oppression in the Society.93.2 The Critique of Mans Crazy P

10、lunder to Nature.10Conclusion.10Bibliography.12Acknowledgements.13On the Symbolism and Thematic Significance of Moby DickWei WeicongGrade 2009, department of foreign studies, Shaoyang UniversitySupervised by Chen HongIntroduction As we know, Moby Dick is one of the greatest novels in 19th American r

11、omanticism. It is not only the classic work about whaling industry but also considered as an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, industry etc. This novel states a story about the endless hunting and the relentless massacre in the sea through a wandering young man named Ishmael. It prese

12、nts typical image of Captain Ahab who bears enormous grudges against Moby Dick, living beings that shears off one of his legs on a pervious voyage in the sea, Captain Ahab chases it everywhere so as to revenge for him, but all crew and even Ahab except for the narrator all die. When it was published

13、, criticism occupied the lions ration. Because of it, Herman Melvilles popularity gradually bottomed out. Melville was also neglected by the world at that time. However, as time went on, more and more people recognized its tremendous value. Sometimes we can take on it as a shining treasury to explor

14、e it. Herman Melville was born in a Calvinist family in New York City in 1819.He was the son of an importer who ran business about French textile. Whereas, his father later went bankrupt and finally died in the year of 1832. Since then he has lived agonizing lives and left school at the age of fifte

15、en. He was a bank clerk, a salesman, a farm hand on his uncles farm and a school teacher. In order to live better lives, he had to choose to go to sea as a cabin boy in 1839.It gave an abundant source material for the creation of fiction. In 1841, Melville went to the South Seas on a whaling ship, A

16、cushnet, where he gained the first-hand information about whaling which he later used in Moby Dick. In Moby Dick, Melville through the mouth of Ishmael said: “a whale-ship was my Yale College and Harvard.”1(p123) After he was back from the sea, between 1846 and 1852, which is considered as his proli

17、fic period, “books Poured forth like a torrent.”2(p74) He has finished Typee (1846), followed by Omoo next year, then Marrdi(1849), Redburn(1849), White Jacket(1850), Moby Dick(1851) and Pierre(1852).3(p73)At the same time, his acquaintance with Hawthorne has made a deep influence on Melvilles attit

18、ude towards his life in 1850. Especially，we all know that the United States was in the optimistic period of Transcendentalism when Melville wrote Moby Dick. As to most of American people, Hawthornes pessimism was incomprehensible, but Melville seemed to understand it completely, so he determined to

19、change the initial travel-tale mode of his masterpiece Moby Dick about one third of which he had finished and made it become an outstanding work which we read today. Although they lost their touches with each other, a position of tragic humanism that both of them represented in their works was uniqu

20、e. Ishmael the narrator has “a more restless and wide-ranging speculative intelligence and a much darker vision of human life.”4(p313)Besides, there is another thing that we have got to mention in his life. The married life of Melville was just the same as that of Scott Fitzgerald. They all married

21、the people whose status was above them. Therefore, both of them were harnessed by the money that they were forced to keep their extravagant wives. Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of a wealthy judge, in the year of 1847. 3(p73) He had to spare no efforts to support his growing family al

22、though it was anguish for a devoted writer to write for money. What is more, it was very difficult to a person to making a living through writing. Because his life has never been smooth, it explained the mood of pessimism which was represented in his wok to a certain extent. He saw dark aspect of Am

23、erican society and the evil of human nature. There are various reviews about Moby Dick. At abroad, nowadays the famous scholar Richard H. Brodhead in his New Essays on Moby Dick makes views about Moby Dick on various aspects, for example, nature, the dramatic changes in social alienation, the challe

24、nge of religion, diversity of language of the novel. 5(p3) Besides, there is a book that we must to mention, that is, Herman Melville: Mariner and Mystic. It was written by Raymond Weaver and published in 1921. Melvilles reputation was again recognized by world because of its publication. Raymond We

25、aver called Moby Dick “indisputably the greatest whaling novel.” 6(p105)In China, there are more and more relevant papers published. Some papers concentrate on complex, esoteric, multiple symbolic meaning in Moby Dick. Some papers focus on narrative, narrative time, biblical archetype and ecological

26、 culture. There are also scholars who discuss the two protagonists, especially the character of Ahab. His pride, madness, crankiness, alienation makes deep impression on all of us. Ishmael, the special character in novel, acts as both a narrator and a person involved in voyage. At the same time, som

27、e people study its social reality, religious meaning and the tragic ending of the epic. In the light of symbolism theory, this paper makes an analysis of the relationships between man and man, man and nature in Moby Dick to reveal its profound thematic significance. The main body includes three part

28、s. The first part mainly introduces the American social background when Moby Dick is published and the definition and development of symbolism theory. The second part analyses symbolic meanings of the relationships between man and man, man and nature. The third part excavates the thematic significan

29、ce of Moby Dick according to theory of symbolism. The last part is the conclusion. It points out symbolism plays an important role in revealing the thematic significance of Moby Dick.1. Brief Introduction of Social Background and Symbolism TheoryTo some extent, we can regard Moby Dick as the first American prose epic. America was in a special era when it came out in 1851. It was an age of optimistic transcend